


Untitled coda

by mneiai



Category: Invincible (TV) (2001)
Genre: Canon - TV Movie, Drabble, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-06
Updated: 2010-06-06
Packaged: 2017-10-09 23:05:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/92573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being human doesn't change much</p>
            </blockquote>





	Untitled coda

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://community.livejournal.com/invincibleslash/1418.html#cutid1). Os/Slate is very minor.

At first, Slate was too overwhelmed to even think--his mind was caught up in the constant strain of the emotions that Os had sent coursing through him. The images and feelings were intense, helping him to understand why Os would have suddenly changed in such a significant, disturbing way.

It was that understanding that led Slate to his second reaction: anger. Now that he could feel all of the good emotions, it was as though the "bad" ones were even more pronounced. The rage, which had previously been a dulled, minor feeling that he never had to worry about interfering in his mission, was all-encompassing, drowning him in fantasies of searching out the White Warrior and tearing apart her soul.

He was too focused on these thoughts to notice as the Elements helped him up and marched him towards a waiting car. While he could tell they were disconcerted by his new (and he felt something rising in his throat that could only be _disgust_) humanity, they could not forget who he is and what he was.

As they slipped him into the car, he managed to croak out a questioning, "Os?"

"He's gone," one of them, the metal Element, he thought, replied. "He ascended."

That set off a new volley of emotions and he could not ask for more information before they shut the door and told the driver to take him back to the penthouse he kept in town. He wondered if this was what he would have felt earlier, throughout this entire predicament, if he could have. Because this was loss, it made his chest ache and his mind shout out for Os, despite knowing that as a human he could never contact him that way again.

After stumbling into his bedroom (with the newfound discomfort of exhaustion dogging his steps), he fell onto his bed and slept.

***

 

It didn't take long for him to fall into the human lifestyle. He still had access to the bank accounts and properties he had kept as a Shadowman just for ease, so he did not need to worry about a lack of skills or funds. For a few months a gnawing guilt even had him breaking apart some of the more unsavory businesses he had owned, donating some of the money to charities and individuals he had wronged for no other reason than his personal enjoyment (or, in the past, to see a pleased look on Os' face).

But once he had adjusted to his humanity, he realized what he had always known: Humans were not naturally any better than the Shadowmen. Once he could process the foreign emotions, he could deal with them, create his own morals and not live by the ones the White Warrior had imposed on Os. He was starting to feel like his old self.

Except his old self wasn't so weak and fragile, had abilities that had made his existence easier in ways he had never truly appreciated. Sometimes he was forced to be in the presence of the Elements, whose weak displays of power made him yearn all the more for his own. They came to him because they thought he had changed his ways, because they thought being human would make him appreciate the horrible mudball they lived on more. They asked for information or advice, awkward and angry all at once.

They apparently talked to Os, sometimes, but could not rely on him for everything. Slate never spoke to Os, not even in his dreams. What was one little human to an ascended being?

Not that Slate planned for his affliction to be anything but momentary. He had been on this particular planet long enough to know there were other ways to gain power than to be born with it and with the Elements believing he was almost trustworthy, it did not take much to convince them to do his dirty work. It would only be a matter of time before he was as powerful as he had been, if not more, and hopefully it would only take a few decades to drag Os down from his higher plain.

After that, well, he had a White Warrior to repay and a silly little planet to destroy.


End file.
